Buyers of the enclosed mall portion of Gateway Town Center in the Brentwood area are starting to convert the former JCPenney building into an indoor climate-controlled self-storage center.
The city issued a permit July 16 for BG Southern Division LLC of Windermere to renovate space at project cost of $844,106 at the store at 5200 Norwood Ave.
Global Building LLC President Joseph Zummo said Feb. 25 by email that the operator has not been confirmed, “but it will be a well known and respected brand in the self-storage industry.”
He said the two-story building will comprise about 900 storage units.
Plans call for partitions on the first floor, new restrooms, finishes, ceiling grid and tiles, light fixtures, HVAC, electrical, plumbing, elevators and a portion of exterior walls and doors.
Much of Gateway Town Center opened more than 60 years ago, in 1959, at the Golfair Boulevard and Norwood Avenue exits east along Interstate 95 and north of Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway.
Gateway Town Center is north of Downtown and Springfield.
Gateway Retail Center LLC sold a part of the property, about 10.7 acres, in July 2024 for $6 million to Global Building Jacksonville I LLC, which is an affiliate of Global Building LLC of Carlsbad, California.
Buyers have been starting work toward redevelopment as the investor intends to add retail stores, self-storage and affordable housing.
Zummo said the developer is Global Storage Partners LLC. Global Building specializes in mixed-use and self-storage center development and ownership.
Global Building bought an estimated 263,000 square feet of vacant space that served as the indoor mall and other uses.
Duval County property records show that Gateway Retail Center LLC, led by Gator Investments President and CEO James Goldsmith, had owned 53.4 acres.
In July 2024, Zummo said Global Building envisioned:
Self-storage: Zummo said Global Building will convert the former JCPenney building into a two-story, 100,000-square-foot indoor climate-controlled self-storage building that likely will be branded either Public Storage or Extra Space, which will operate under a third-party agreement. Global Building owns it and the operator would manage it. The two-story department store comprises 132,456 square feet, property records show.
Retail: About 30,000 square feet of adjacent vacant retail space will be marketed to retailers, such as a furniture store and other discounters like Ross Dress For Less. “We want to add at least one more major retailer,” Zummo said. He said Gateway Town Center caters to discount retailers.
Childhood center: The former Duval County Tax Collector’s Office, comprising 8,044 square feet on 1.5 acres, initially was envisioned as an early childhood learning center, but that now is targeted for the Jacksonville Transportation Authority training center.
Affordable apartments: The rest of the former mall buildings on the Global Building property will be demolished for development of affordable housing, Zummo said.
Gateway Town Center
After the shopping center opened in 1959, Gateway developed an indoor mall on the site in 1967. The rest of the Gateway stores opened between 1980 and 2005.
As the neighborhood struggled, Gateway closed the indoor mall and other retail space.
Gateway Retail Center has been adding new retailers that include Burlington, Five Below, Roses Discount Store, Planet Fitness, Dollar Tree and a larger Hibbett Sports.
Winn-Dixie has leased a grocery store there since 2020 with city incentives to replace Publix Super Markets Inc., which closed in 2019. The store was built in 2000.
Gator Investments of Miami Lakes took control of the Gateway Town Center property in 2012 through a certificate of title.
After the Global Building sale, property records indicate Gator Investments continues to own almost 43 acres there.
The total mall property comprised 640,320 square feet of space.
It appears that the Gateway retail component will continue with more than 370,000 square feet of strip-center space and stand-alone buildings, such as an almost 9,400-square-foot former auto service center.
Zummo said his group’s project will complement the existing retailers that Goldsmith has attracted.